Integral nut and bracket



Oct. 6, 1970 u 3,532,323

INTEGRAL NUT AND BRACKET Filed Feb. 26, 1968 I NVENTOR.

I Tar/V1775 United States Patent 3,532,323 INTEGRAL NUT AND BRACKETJames R. Uhen, Burlington, Wis., assignor, by mesne assignments, toTenneco Inc-, a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 26, 1968, Ser. No.708,119 Int. Cl. B66f 3/08 US. Cl. 254-126 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A lift jack for automobiles or the like has a power screwthat extends through a combination nut and bracket which is formed froma single piece of metal that is pierced, punched and folded into finalform for assembly with the drive screw and other parts.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONv It is the purpose of the invention toreduce the cost but not the quality of a screw-type jack by substitutingfor a combination screw machine and sheet metal part a stamping that hasbeen punched and pierced to provide slots that act as threads to receivethe drive screw. The stamping is also folded into a bracket on which thelifting arm of the jack is pivoted.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A side liftjack 1 has a front base member 3 and a rear base member 5 and a pair ofchannel shaped side frame members 7 and 9 which fit in a cup-shapedportion 11 of the rear support 5. The front ends of the frame members 7and 9 are closed by an end cap 13 against which is held a thrust washer15 and a nut 17, the nut being connected to the screw by cross pin 18. Adrive screw 19 extends through the nut, thrust washer, and end cap andinside the housing formed by the side plates 7 and 9 and threads througha combination nut bracket 21 constructed in accordance with thisinvention. The bracket 21 has an upstanding lug or fian-ge portion 23 onwhich is pivoted by means of pin 25 the end of a lifting arm 27. Theother end of the arm 27 has a load engaging projection 29. Side links 31are pivoted by pins 33 to the arm 27 and to the sides of the base 3 toguide movement of the lifting arm.

In accordance with this invention, the combination nut and bracket 21 isformed from sheet metal which in its or-ginal flat condition as a blankafter piercing and punching looks substantially like the part 37 shownin FIG. 4.

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The blank 37 is approximately T-shaped and has a pair of holes 39extruded in it so as to form the necked holes in sections 23 whichreceive the pivot pin 25. The center section of the blank is providedwith three rows 41, 43 and 45 of angled slots which are spaced apart bythe pitch of the threads on the power screw 19. The blank 37 is rebentor folded into the substantially U-shape shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 so thatthe rows 41, 43 and 45 and the blank portions containing them form threesides 47, 49 and 51 of a triangular tubular section which receives andsurrounds the power screw 19 but is small enough so that the threads 53of the power screw extend into the slots 41, 43 and 45. The portions 23Aof the blank other than the triangular section 55 are rebent intoface-to-face contact and spot-welded together as indicated at 57. Theprojecting portions 23 not only serve to support the lifting arm 27 butalso fit between the spaced edges of the side frame members 7 and 9 soas to prevent turning of the member 21 when the screw is rotated.

It will be apparent that by forming the nut and bracket 21 from astamping the normal screw machine operation to form threads has beeneliminated and the part has been reduced from two or more pieces to onepiece. This, therefore, reduces the difliculty and expense ofmanufacturing without adversely affecting in any way the quality oroperation of the jack.

Modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention.

I claim:

1. A force applying device comprising frame means, a power screwsupported on the frame means, a combination nut and bracket membersupported by the frame means and threadably receiving the power screw,and a force applying member operatively connected to the bracket memberand movable thereby, said nut and bracket member being formed of sheetmetal and having a tubular side wall section surrounding said powerscrew, said side wall having slots formed therein receiving the threadson the power screw and the edges of the slots acting with the threads toprovide a threaded connection between the power screw and said nut andbracket member so that rotation of the power screw moves the nut andbracket member axially along the power screw, said nut and bracketmember being formed of a single piece of sheet metal that is U-shapedwith the opposite sides adjacent the ends of the U being adjacent eachother to provide a flange for attachment to said force applying memberand the opposite sides adjacent the bight of the U being spaced apart toprovide said tubular side wall section.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the tubular side wall is oftriangular cross section and has three sides with slots thereinreceiving said threads.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said opposite sides adjacentthe ends of the U have necked holes formed therein and including a pivotpin in said necked holes pivotally connecting said force applying memberto said nut and bracket member.

4. A force applying device comprising frame means, a power screwsupported on the frame means, a combination nut and bracket membersupported by the frame means and threadably receiving the power screw,and a force applying member operatively connected to the bracket memberand movable thereby, said nut and bracket member being formed of twolayers of sheet metal shaped to have a tubular side wall sectionsurrounding said power screw, said side wall having slots formed thereinextending through the sheet metal and receiving the threads on the powerscrew and the edges of the slots acting with the threads to provide athreaded connection between the power screw and said nut and bracketmember so that rotation of the power screw moves the nut and bracketmember axially along the power screw.

5. 'A device as set forth in claim 4 wherein the tubular side wall is oftriangular cross section and has three sides with slots thereinreceiving said threads.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,536,972 1/1951 Woodworth 254982,983,180 5/1961 Syngnator 8532 9 3,311,399 3/1967 Holton 24-274 X3,337,170 8/1967 Remy 254126 X US. Cl. X.R.

